Annotation:Gossan that Beat His Father (The)
X: 1 T:Gosson that Beat His Father, The R:reel S:Paddy O'Neill D:Cathal McConnell: On Lough Erne Shore Z:id:hn-reel-743 M:C| K:Amix eA~A2 eA~A2|BG~G2 Bcdg|eA{c}BA eA{c}BA|Be{a}ed (3Bcd A2| eA{c}BA eA~A2|BG~G2 Bcdg|~e3d {c}BAGA|Be{a}ed (3Bcd A2:| |:ab{c'}ag edef|~g2bg dgbg|az{c}ag ed{c}BA|Be{a}ed (3Bcd A2:|
GOSSAN THAT BEAT HIS FATHER, THE (An gasúr a thug leadradh dá athair). AKA and see "Bring out Your Wife and Air Her," "Lochiel's Rant," "Lough Isles Return," "Tuehey's Reel," "Laurel Bush (2) (The)," "Yeoman's Reel," "West Gale (The)," "Rakes of Castlebar (2) (The)," "Reel of Bogie (1) (The)," "Showman's Reel (The)," "Spence's Reel," "Castlebar Traveler (The)." Irish, Reel. A Dorian. Standard tuning (fiddle). ABB. The word 'gossan' in the title derives from the Irish gasúr, meaning 'young (or wee) lad'. The tune shares a first strain with the large Irish and Scottish "Reel of Bogie (1) (The)" dorian-mode tune family, whose members all have, to one extent or another, similar melodic material and contour. Fr. John Quinn finds County Leitrim musician Stephen Grier's manuscript (c. 1883, Book 2, No. 27) reel "Bring out Your Wife and Air Her" and “Shun on the Brake” in the Reilly MSS both to be cognates of "Gossan", while O'Neill's "On the Sly" is the same in the first part, but not the second. Similarly, "Lochiel's Awa' to France but he'll come again" is the same in the first strain, although the second is the same as "Mountain Rose (The)." "Laurel Bush (2) (The)/Laurel Tree (The)" is also a related tune. Ciaran Carson mentions the tune in his book Last Night's Fun (1996), played in a set with "Johnny Going to Céilí" and "Long and Slender Sally (The)," obtained from flute player Cathal McConnell "of Ballanaleck on the shores of Lough Erne." Carson thought McConnell had the set from the late John Maguire (as “The Gossoon that Bate his Father”), father of fiddle 'maestro' Sean McGuire [sic].
Cyril Maguire, in his book Hidden Fermanagh (2003), gives "Humors of Loughrea (2)" the alternate title "Gossan that Beat His Father", however, although there are some similar characteristics, the tunes are not the same. Similarly, Fr. Quinn finds that a tune played by Séamus Connolly over Radio Éireann in May, 1965, as "Gossan that Beat His Father" was later published by Seán Maguire and Josephine Keegan in their Irish Tunes by the 100 as “Gatehouse Maid (The)”--a title, he points out, normally used for a different Irish reel, one related to the Scottish strathspey, “Miss Drummond of Perth”.
